An inside look at the CAD, CAM and CAE industry - by Roopinder Tara

June 02, 2006

Solid Edge-- the Best MCAD Program You Won't Buy

I was invited to see the next version of Solid Edge but I'm sworn to secrecy until the release is made public. Suffice it to say that the next release is very impressive. But then, Solid Edge has always been impressive. Joining me in this belief are most of the editors, authors and analysts I talk to. On technical merits, Solid Edge holds its own and even surpasses market leading Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks in some aspects. So why isn't Solid Edge on the short list when a MCAD buying decision is made?

UGS knows the answer. At last fall's Solid Edge user meeting, UGS CEO Tony Affuso announced that he was tired of Solid Edge not being noticed and UGS was going to turn up the volume (see Solid Edge Seeks the Spotlight). They were going to increase advertising, for one thing. Also, they pointed to the large number of press invited, indicating how that, too, would help spread the word.

Let's take a look at what has happened since:

Instead of increasing advertising, UGS has cut back. Online advertising has been cut back severely. They used to be one of TenLinks biggest advertisers, but that has all but disappeared.

Very few members of the press -- if any -- were invited to the next Solid Edge users meeting, held in April in Long Beach, CA, where I'd expect the next edition of Solid Edge to be announced.

While this makes CAD insiders scratch their heads, it's bound to makes the product people at UGS' Solid Edge division downright frustrated. No doubt they feel they have done their job and made the better mouse trap. Why doesn't the rest of the company (management, marketing) do their job-- or at least keep their promises?

Some possible answers:

UGS also offers a high-end product with Unigraphics. Is the company afraid that the growing capability of Solid Edge jeopardizes its high-end products?

UGS may be scrimping to improve its bottom line. UGS was bought by investors from EDS. It has been trying to buy itself back from its investors with big payments that have left the company in the red. Rumor have swirled for some time that UGS plans to do an IPO (see UGS Steps Forward, for example) and may be cutting costs severely so that it looks like a good investment. Unfortunately, in this situation, the marketing budget may have been the first to go.

Comments

Well I for one am very disapointed with Solid Edge ST. I have had it for a year and still have not made a single drawing. The tutorials just don't match the commands offered, so the lessons cannot be learned. And no classes are offered within 100 miles of here, Albany NY. Don't buy this software until they prove you can can become proficent with it. Still using AutoCAD daily.

I attended the Long Beach PLM World Conference in May and gave two presentations. I heard the keynote talks, and soaked up the general atmoshpere. It appears that there is a trend of ‘non-marketing’ with SE, and that is continuing – UGS has capitalistic ambitions that don’t include making much out of its midrange product. Nothing new here, it has been that way since V4 when I got on board with SE.

The UGS focus is all on PLM these days, and NX is glorified, while SE gets the token treatment. I don’t see UGS acting like they believe their Big Opportunity going forward has much to do with selling SE, which has become a marketing stepstone for PLM software and NX.

It’s frustrating to loyal and serious SE users to experience being treated like the ‘red-headed stepchild’ – which is a comment I heard from one of the SE developers, who expressed he and his colleagues feel UGS treats the SE development staff that way. Loyalists stick with Solid Edge because it is demonstrably the most powerful midrange CAD solution, even after the other contenders have had had 10 years to catch up.

In truth, if you want to be most competetive in engineering and fielding great designs, Solid Edge has you surrounded with powerful tools to support all your needs, from the first inkling of an idea to sustaining engineering. The drafting is superb. The surfacing works very well. Most small to midsize businesses need nothing more than SE and a good PDM system like Insight. UGS is screwing up to be so focused on the ‘high end’ that they fail to recognize there really is a CAD midrange, and that it’s worth going after.

Fortunately, the key to business success with a CAD system is more about how you apply it, than about how popular the system is. At Solid Advantage , we beat the pants off competition by deep expertise with our tools and engineering systems, not because we use one particular tool or another. We would excel even if we were handicapped with Pro-E. We are grateful for the superior power of SE, the Cinderella CAD system. After all, if you were a character in the Cinderella story, would you choose to be Drucilla or Prunella? We like the role of the Prince!

What a great article on UGS and Solid Edge, Roopinder. Thanks for telling it like it is.

In my opinion UGS has no clue how to market to small business.

I would also like to agree with those that correctly state that SolidWorks has been throttled back. It's always wait till you see the next release with SolidWorks. Please... after ten years the surfacing in SolidWorks is still very poor and the tools to deal with non-native data in a *timely* manner still don't exist.

SolidWorks truly has no real understanding of manufacturing compared to UGS.

Please keep up the great work in exposing the nonsense that sadly dominates the CAD/CAM industry.

Well, indeed SolidEdge is a great, great product. It has lead the interface wars and pushed forward in many areas, ahead of SolidWorks and Inventor. Spending money on advertising will raise awareness, however UGS has a bigger problem, it just doesn't have the channel to match Autodesk and especially SolidWorks. I guess the first task is to get SolidEdge on the menu, which marketing will help but I have serious concerns on the breadth and depth of its channel. The question is, is it too late to sort the channel out. where would they come from and what are the incentives when it looks like a two horse race - Autodesk/ SolidWorks. I'm encouraged to hear Tony Affuso's words, it has to be backed up by action.

I agree that it is unfortunate for UGS that they have allowed the very narrow window of opportunity to close upon itself. The mid-range CAD market has become saturated with the two leaders, SolidWorks and Inventor and has left very little room for Solid Edge. UGS may benefit by concentrating their efforts on the rapidly expanding PLM market.

As far SolidWorks being "Throttled back" by Dassault - Hogwash! the SWX07 release promises to be one of their most exciting releases to date.

I thought UGS was trying to get inroads in SMB through TeamCenter, and emphasizing compatibility with that product and Inventor and Solidworks.
From a consulting standpoint, PLM is a much more lucrative market than MCAD seats
Now, the question arises, is TeamCenter going to infringe on their IMAN seats?
Regaurding Rich's comment about Dassault putting the breaks on Solidworks. I think the guys in Concord might take exception with that statement. I've seen the SW07 beta. It doesn't look like anyone's been throttling their progress.

What a shame to see a great mid-ranged 3D Modeling software being held back like Solid Works is. There seems to be the same problem with both big brothers of the softwares. At least Solid Edge talks the same language of its big brother and can be used on the same projects at different skill levels of designers and beginning engineers of other technically trained people that do not need the same level of the software. That can save many thousands of dollars in large companies. Solid Works needs its big brother to allow at least the same language compatibility. It's just a shame what is happening with these two fine products.